Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (SFDK) Discussion Thread

[cwf_777]

Just got back from the park, mainly to try VR Kong (never tried a VR coaster before). Single worst experience I have ever had at any theme park. It didn't feel like they have done anything to the track at all. Doesn't matter what they tell you, those restraints weren't changed from the last time I rode it. Long loading times (obviously) and so much pain. Me and at least 5 others on the train had headsets nearly fall off during the ride from so much head banging. The only silver lining is that Kong isn't that good of a coaster to begin with, so it won't be missed.

[JGuy]

The only silver lining is that Kong isn't that good of a coaster to begin with, so it won't be missed.

 

Maybe corporate instructed the park management that they needed to shoehorn VR onto a ride in order to satisfy their deal with Samsung. Knowing that Medusa and Joker get too many people to acceptably operate with VR, they instead opted for Kong so fewer people would be angered.

...

Or, they're simply betting on how easily fooled most people are.

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

^^$30 for a wristband?? That's ridiculous!! SFDK FFest really isn't that good, why would they bump up the price and remove Haunts? IIRC I don't even know if Boathouse is even back, and Pig Farms was the best that is now gone. They stopped doing the one at Whitewater. The wristband was like $25 last year I believe and I think the park was only open till like 10 so we barely got through each maze once. Come on SFDK, you can do better. We got tickets to Horror Nights for $35 last year. There will still be people who go but I think this will drive a lot away. I always felt Feight Fest had a lot of untapped potential if they invested more into it.

[singemfrc]

So much for sneaking in at Park opening, Intel has a huge group here for morning ERT in Sea and their group has access to the Kong ERT all day too

[singemfrc]

So much for sneaking in at Park opening, Intel has a huge group here for morning ERT in Sea and their group has access to the Kong ERT all day too

So the day ended up not so bad. Despite Intel having a pretty large group with morning ERT on V2/Joker/Superman, I was still able to sneak over and grab a quick walkon of Joker right at rope drop before heading over to Kong.

 

Kong ERT was not only for Season Pass Holders, but also anyone with a Samsung phone and anyone with an Intel ERT wristband - so quite a few people. Despite that, however, they were limiting the ride to about 160 PPH by using kind of a poor man's (old style) Disney Fast Pass system. They handed out about 40 of these tickets for each 15 minute period:

 

 

Only the orange train was running. Yellow train still presumably in pieces. My first lap was with the VR headset. The VR program is actually kind of fun for the portion that takes place during the lift hill. You can move your head to aim and tap on the right side of the gear headset to fire, and there are a lot of available targets.

 

Once the ride crests the hill, however, the game changes to "missles" mode and you're supposed to just look at a monster and the software will automatically fire missles at it. Realistically though, once this happens not too many people were even worrying about playing the game anymore..for me it was kind of like just riding with my eyes closed. In row 4 it wasn't terribly painful, but it was uncomfortable..the headset was repeatedly slamming into the restraints. Unlike the smooth ride on Revolution down at SFMM, these phones are taking a serious beating. A manager who was supervising the ERT claimed that the park actually paid full retail price for each of the Galaxy S7 phones. If that's true, ouch.

 

They were asking everyone whether they preferred the VR version or the regular Kong, I voted for regular Kong. I went around for another lap however, to ride without the VR, and ended up in the last row. Full on Vekoma mode, that last row was all kinds of pain. Amazing that you can have such a varying experience just a few rows away on the same train.

 

Also - I don't usually take the parking lot bus, but I was tired today and it was hot so I figured the A/C would be nice but big disappointment that there was no A/C on the bus on this hot day.

[skaunit]

Can anyone offer some good crowd predictions for daytime ops, between now and nov. 6th? I need to take the family (myself, wife, 4 year old, and almost 2 year old) to process our membership passes before November 6th, and am thinking about this coming Sunday. I noticed though they aren't open until 12 on Sunday's though, kind of a bummer. We'll probably only stay for 3-5 hours, I'm hoping to score a 15min wait on joker somehow or another... (Wife's not a coaster rider)

[scooterdoug]

Can anyone offer some good crowd predictions for daytime ops, between now and nov. 6th? I need to take the family (myself, wife, 4 year old, and almost 2 year old) to process our membership passes before November 6th, and am thinking about this coming Sunday. I noticed though they aren't open until 12 on Sunday's though, kind of a bummer. We'll probably only stay for 3-5 hours, I'm hoping to score a 15min wait on joker somehow or another... (Wife's not a coaster rider)

It can be tough to predict crowds. Still, this coming Sunday might be a good bet (I plan on going then). The weather is forecasted (thus far) to be cooler. Encouragingly, there are no special events planned for that day, and it's not a bring a friend free day. The next two Sundays after are cheer leading competition days, which I avoid. Also, the closer it gets to Halloween, the more crowded it gets. Really, it won't start getting really dead crowd-wise until early November. So, between now and then, this coming Sunday is as good a bet as any. Good luck.

[singemfrc]

I'm hoping to score a 15min wait on joker somehow or another... (Wife's not a coaster rider)

Just head straight for Joker when the park opens and you should accomplish that no problem.

[JGuy]

I wonder how many people will opt out of Fright Fest this year due to the price increase. Now that the prices are closer to their main competition, I can't imagine many people picking Six Flags' less-than-stellar event if they could reach either park in the Bay Area.

[Fire2box]

^^$30 for a wristband?? That's ridiculous!! SFDK FFest really isn't that good, why would they bump up the price and remove Haunts? IIRC I don't even know if Boathouse is even back, and Pig Farms was the best that is now gone. They stopped doing the one at Whitewater. The wristband was like $25 last year I believe and I think the park was only open till like 10 so we barely got through each maze once. Come on SFDK, you can do better. We got tickets to Horror Nights for $35 last year. There will still be people who go but I think this will drive a lot away. I always felt Feight Fest had a lot of untapped potential if they invested more into it.

 

The White Water one was the nearest thing to a maze we'll ever see at the park too. I tried it during the 2014 season and that was the last time they did it. I had to be told twice which direction to go since either there were few signs or they were turned around or simply on the floor as they were paper held by tacks into the plyboards.

 

Still not as good as the salughterhouse farm. I always had a good time on that one that I went trough it 2-3 times each year.

[CrazedZooChimp]

Only the orange train was running. Yellow train still presumably in pieces. My first lap was with the VR headset. The VR program is actually kind of fun for the portion that takes place during the lift hill. You can move your head to aim and tap on the right side of the gear headset to fire, and there are a lot of available targets.

 

Once the ride crests the hill, however, the game changes to "missles" mode and you're supposed to just look at a monster and the software will automatically fire missles at it. Realistically though, once this happens not too many people were even worrying about playing the game anymore..for me it was kind of like just riding with my eyes closed. In row 4 it wasn't terribly painful, but it was uncomfortable..the headset was repeatedly slamming into the restraints. Unlike the smooth ride on Revolution down at SFMM, these phones are taking a serious beating. A manager who was supervising the ERT claimed that the park actually paid full retail price for each of the Galaxy S7 phones. If that's true, ouch.

 

They were asking everyone whether they preferred the VR version or the regular Kong, I voted for regular Kong. I went around for another lap however, to ride without the VR, and ended up in the last row. Full on Vekoma mode, that last row was all kinds of pain. Amazing that you can have such a varying experience just a few rows away on the same train.

 

Also - I don't usually take the parking lot bus, but I was tired today and it was hot so I figured the A/C would be nice but big disappointment that there was no A/C on the bus on this hot day.

 

I talked to Charles Laureano, the maintenance supervisor for the park, about this at the media preview, and he said the yellow train should be ready in a week or two. Glad to see them doing the poor man's fastpass, it's at least a partial solution to the operations of the VR. Hope they keep it up (and New Revolution should do that).

 

I wrote up my full thoughts on it at Coaster101, but in general I think I agree with you. I maybe didn't find it as bad towards the middle/front as you did, but yeah, the back row sucked. I only rode in the front without the VR, and it was actually quite smooth up there, crazy big difference. For the most part in the middle I didn't find it too bad, but it was definitely hard to actually "lock on" to any of the gargoyles with your head shaking around, but that would have happened even if it were smooth just with the number of quick twists in Kong.

 

My summary would be it moved Kong from "unrideable" to "ride once per visit near the front" quality. I did like the full interactive VR as compared to New Revolution, but think it's better on slower, less intense, rides.

[jh5292]

The lines for SFDK on coasterqueue.com today seemed pretty long. Was anyone at the park today to confirm how busy it was?

 

I was at CA Great America and the place was a ghost land! Was hoping for at least a semi slow day tomorrow for my visit to SFDK.

 

Also, can anyone confirm that the Flash Pass is only good for one reservation on Joker for the entire day? The website says " single ride reservation" but doesn't give any details.

[j_dreamfinder]

Just wanted to post a quick report from the park this past Friday which was mostly just to check out the Fright Fest mazes. There are 6 haunted houses this year like last year with Dark Oaks Mortuary being the new one replacing Slaughterhouse Pig Farms since Pacific Rim replaced it.

 

If you want to avoid crowds during Fright Fest, Friday nights are definitely the way to go. 30 min wait on Joker and everything else was no more than 5 minutes.

 

Dark Oaks Mortuary is easily the best maze I've been in at this park. It's LONG, has lot's of scare actors in it and has a really creepy awesome theme. I'm very curious what it was like before it got the changeover from the asylum theme because they did a great job with a short amount of time.

 

Carnevil is still a great maze from last year which seems to add another layer of scare due to the recent creepy clown crazy that's been going on. Everything else is mostly the same as it has been for several years now. I think it's probably time next year to redo and refresh these older mazes to something of the same quality as Dark Oaks Mortuary.

 

Was also hopeful to see a return of the halloween themed animal shows that I LOVE but unfortunately it looked like they were the same shows as the rest of the year.

 

Only needed to stay a few hours in the park and left by 8:30pm. Overall it was pretty enjoyable time at the park with minimal crowds and a really really good new haunted house.

[JGuy]

Interesting. On Saturday, the crowd was significant larger and Joker still managed to maintain a 30 minute wait. The crew on that ride is awesome.

[XSupremacy]

Interesting. On Saturday, the crowd was significant larger and Joker still managed to maintain a 30 minute wait. The crew on that ride is awesome.

 

The 4 man crew on Joker have seem to be busting their butts all summer. It's amazing how quickly they can get trains out, even with having to check the seatbelt then pull down the lap bar.

[JGuy]

Interesting. On Saturday, the crowd was significant larger and Joker still managed to maintain a 30 minute wait. The crew on that ride is awesome.

 

The 4 man crew on Joker have seem to be busting their butts all summer. It's amazing how quickly they can get trains out, even with having to check the seatbelt then pull down the lap bar.

 

It's great how only two people are checking lap bars again, but they still manage to avoid train stacking.

[scooterdoug]

I decided to risk crowds and pay a visit to the park yesterday. The JAMZ cheerleading competition was scheduled for yesterday, but it was rainy as well. I'm glad I went, as the rain forced the cheerleaders to relocate to a place that wasn't, you know, outside. As a result, the park was the quietest I've seen it in a while. I stuck to the DC corner of the park. Superman was a walk-on all day (at least until I left at 2). The Joker's line never got more than a dozen people outside of the clown's mouth. The line would have been shorter, but they were only loading every other row. I guess they felt that the rain made it run too fast. So, in addition to only loading odd numbered rows, the train slowed at the top of the lift hill, something I've never seen it do before. Still, even with these measures, it was running the fastest I've ever seen it run. On a side note, I hope they don't assign rows for too much longer. I understand it's for efficiency, and they've been doing a good job of keeping that line moving, but I like the option of waiting a little longer for a front row ride.

So, for future reference, rain can keep masses of cheerleaders out of the park. Also, all the major coasters run in the rain, which pretty much never let up the entire time I was there. Good to know.

[coasterfreak11]

Good morning everyone,

 

Planning on going to SFDK for the first time ever this Saturday. A few questions:

 

1. What type of crowd can I expect for a Saturday (opens at 11am?)

2. Are there any big events or anything to be aware of that day?

3. I only want to get on four of the coasters- Joker, Medusa, Superman, and Vertical Velocity. Is there a certain order I should hit to avoid crowds or a coaster that always has a longer wait. slow loading times? Goal is to ride all those once and Joker a few times.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

[JGuy]

Good morning everyone,

 

Planning on going to SFDK for the first time ever this Saturday. A few questions:

 

1. What type of crowd can I expect for a Saturday (opens at 11am?)

2. Are there any big events or anything to be aware of that day?

3. I only want to get on four of the coasters- Joker, Medusa, Superman, and Vertical Velocity. Is there a certain order I should hit to avoid crowds or a coaster that always has a longer wait. slow loading times? Goal is to ride all those once and Joker a few times.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

1. Being that it's the Veteran's Day weekend, it's possible that it will be crowded, but I'm not sure. Typically, uneventful weekends in November are fairly empty, so maybe you'll get lucky.

2. Here's a list of the events currently scheduled: https://www.sixflags.com/discoverykingdom/special-events

3. Head to Superman first, as the line for that ride moves painfully slow, then ride Joker and V2. Ride Medusa whenever you feel like it. Medusa and Joker are very re-rideable due to having fast moving queues.

[scooterdoug]

Good morning everyone,

 

Planning on going to SFDK for the first time ever this Saturday. A few questions:

 

1. What type of crowd can I expect for a Saturday (opens at 11am?)

2. Are there any big events or anything to be aware of that day?

3. I only want to get on four of the coasters- Joker, Medusa, Superman, and Vertical Velocity. Is there a certain order I should hit to avoid crowds or a coaster that always has a longer wait. slow loading times? Goal is to ride all those once and Joker a few times.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

1. Being that it's the Veteran's Day weekend, it's possible that it will be crowded, but I'm not sure. Typically, uneventful weekends in November are fairly empty, so maybe you'll get lucky.

2. Here's a list of the events currently scheduled: https://www.sixflags.com/discoverykingdom/special-events

3. Head to Superman first, as the line for that ride moves painfully slow, then ride Joker and V2. Ride Medusa whenever you feel like it. Medusa and Joker are very re-rideable due to having fast moving queues.

I concur with this advice. The one place I differ is in regards to which to ride first. Joker's line does move quickly. However, they assign seats. If you're a front row rider (like me), then the only way to guarantee a front row ride is to run at rope drop and be the first in line. If assigned seating doesn't matter to you, then you can go to Superman first (though I don't think that the lines moves all that slowly). Have fun!

[coasterfreak11]

Thank you guys for the tips! Looked at the park map as well, and looks like the four I want to hit are near the front of the park. Will do Superman first to get it out of the way. Glad that Joker has such good reviews about dispatch times. Can't wait to ride my 4th RMC and will head to SFMM the following weekend to make it 5!

 

Look forward to hitting a new Six Flags park! Any unique thrill rides I should hit here or just stick riding Joker over and over again?

[JGuy]

Tasmanian Devil and Hammerhead are kind of fun.

I usually end up riding Skyscreamer and Dare Devil, but if you've already been to other Six Flags parks, you've probably already been on them.

 

You might find it best to stick to Joker for most of the day, but a day spent riding an RMC is a day well spent! (At least it is to me)

[scooterdoug]

...a day spent riding an RMC is a day well spent!

Truth.

[laqueefa]

Tasmanian Devil and Hammerhead are kind of fun.

 

I love me some Hammerhead!

[IndoorSurvivalist]

I came across this photo a while back (its been sitting on my desktop for a while now) and thougt people here might find it interesting.

 

Its interesting to compare this photo to current satellite images and see what buildings and pathways are still there. Certainly there used to be a lot more grass. One of the things I thought interesting are the white objects along the pathway on the edge of the water. It looks like there was about five of them, and two of them are still there around the butterfly exhibit. The one of the other side of the path seems to have been removed, probably because the train used to pass right along there.